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"Trump's Tamper Tantrum." · Pod Save America

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: On today's show, Donald Trump tries to cover up incriminating
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: January 6th testimony with some light witness tampering. Nevada Senator
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Catherine Cortez Masto joins to talk about the fight for
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: abortion access and her very tight midterm race. And we
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: debate the debate over whether Joe Biden should run for
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: re-election in 2024. But first, check out this week's Pod
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Save the World where Tommy and Ben chat with our
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: old White House friend Danny Russell, now Vice President of
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: about the shocking assassination of Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: And if you haven't yet, make sure to listen to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: their excellent special episode about Boris Johnson's Brexit. Also, if
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you'd like to help register millions of women voters across
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the country and stay caffeinated all the way through to
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the end of our podcasts, we've got you covered. Crooked
• 1:16
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• 1:21
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• 1:29
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• 1:34
  Speaker 1: think I'm a pour-over kind of guy? What about me
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: has said pour-over?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, literally everything. Everything about you. What are you
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: talking about?
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I've been drinking fucking Dunkin' Donuts since I was five.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: That is the exception, not the rule, my LA friend.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Anyway, well, now my tastes are more refined, so I
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: like Crooked Coffee. Anyway, most importantly, we're donating a portion
• 1:59
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• 2:03
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• 2:09
  Speaker 1: slash coffee to get your Crooked Coffee today. All right,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: let's get to the news. The January 6th committee held
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: another banger of a hearing this week.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: What?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: The focus was on the connection between Donald Trump's attempted
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: coup and the violent extremist groups who coordinated the attack
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: on the Capitol. I want to cover four key moments,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: starting with a stunning description of a December 18th White
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: House meeting by Liz Cheney and Jamie Raskin that for
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the first time featured testimony from former White House counsel
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Patsy Bologna. Love it, Colson. Patsy Bologna. And more testimony
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: from his colleague, Eric Hirschman. Take a listen.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: The strategy is to blame people his advisers called, quote,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: the crazies for what Donald Trump did. This, of course,
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: is nonsense. President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: not an impressionable child.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: On Friday, December 18th, his team of outside advisers paid
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: him a surprise visit in the White House that would
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: quickly become the stuff of legend. The meeting has been
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: called unhinged, not normal in the craziest meeting of the
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Trump presidency.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I walked in.
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: I saw General Flynn. I saw Sidney Powell sitting there.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: I was not happy to see the people in the
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: Oval Office.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: Explain why.
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: Well, again, I don't think they were providing. Well, first
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: of all, the overstocked person, I've never met this guy. Actually,
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: the first thing I did, I walked in, I looked
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: at him and I said, who are you?
• 3:51
  Speaker 7: I was asking, like, are you claiming the Democrats were
• 3:53
  Speaker 7: working with Yugoslavs, Venezuelans, and whomever else? And at one point,
• 4:01
  Speaker 7: General Flynn took out a diagram that supposedly showed IP
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: addresses all over the world, and who was communicating with
• 4:12
  Speaker 7: whom via the machines, and some comment about, like, Nest
• 4:15
  Speaker 7: thermostats being hooked up to the Internet.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's fucking terrifying, but it is also very funny.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Before we get into what was called the craziest meeting
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of the entire Trump presidency, which is a high fucking bar,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: who do you think Liz Cheney's opening message was for?
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: There can only be one answer to that question, John.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: The person her dad shot in the face. I forgot that.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's like, would you just say the name
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Merrick Garland? Like, it is so.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a 76-year-old man.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Not an impressionable child. I have to say, Liz Cheney,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: you can be both.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he is both. He is both. So that was
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: her message. Let's talk about the six-hour meeting, which apparently
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: involved Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell... the Overstock.com CEO.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I'm not even going to ever say his name. He's
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: just going to be the Overstock CEO from now on out,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: like he was in the testimony. And they were all
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: screaming at a bunch of White House staff for six
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: hours because they wouldn't let them help Trump stage a
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: coup or propagate theories like you can control votes from
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: your nest. Your nest thermostat also controls votes. That's what
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: we got from General Flynn.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: We should also just point out, as Tommy always does
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: in his very world away, which is Hugo Chavez died
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: in 2013. That is a good note.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: It's a good note to keep in mind when thinking
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: about the ghost of Hugo Chavez using Nest thermostats to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: help control the 2020 election. All right. Why do you
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: think the committee focused on this shit show?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Well, first, I think they feel like they have a
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: patriotic duty to remind every person at every opportunity that
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump is a fucking dangerous idiot surrounded by some
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: of the dumbest, worst people in America who he takes seriously.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: So that is like a public service. They should do
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: that every day. We should all take that upon ourselves
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: to remind everyone of that so we don't forget it.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: I think the presence of the Overstock.com guy is just
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: so goddamn funny. It's like hard to get over because
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: it's like– it's basically like you and Lovett were writing–
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: a White House Correspondents' Center joke about that meeting, the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: punchline would be the Overstock.com guy. He would have made
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: that up, but it's too good to be true.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no joke.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: But there is a serious reason for doing this, which
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: is one, it is another chance for the committee to
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: point out that Donald Trump was advised that there was
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: no evidence that the election was stolen. that he had
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: no legal authority to do the things that he was pushing.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: And he did them anyway, including in his own mind,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: appoint Sidney Powell, the craziest of all the attorneys, a
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: quote unquote special counsel, i.e. the title that Robert Mueller
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: had when investigating Donald Trump to investigate the election fraud
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: that he had just been told by several people over
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: and over again at apparently very high decibels did not exist.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: He knew it was a lie. It was also premeditated.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: The whole thing Mother Jones got a clip of Steve
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Bannon in October of 2020 saying, quote, our strategy is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: for Trump to claim victory even if he hasn't won.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: So the whole thing about voter fraud, they knew it
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: was false from the beginning. Trump knew, the staff knew.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: And then this is a meeting where all the people
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: he employs, all the White House staff are telling him
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: there's no voter fraud and that he lost. And because
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: these outside wackos are telling him otherwise, he decides to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: plan the coup anyway. He literally sent the tweet about,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: be there, January 6th, we'll be wild, at the end
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: of the six-hour meeting, after the whole meeting. I also think, too,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: your point about being a public service, about how crazy
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: these people are. We should also understand that if Donald
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Trump wins again, Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell, the overstock.com guy...
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: They're not just outside advisors. They're running the government in
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the second term because all these other people are out.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: It's all Jeff Clarks going forward.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: It's all Jeff Clarks. It's all people who are going
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: to do the next coup just very happily. So those
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: are the top advisors running the country. Fingers on the
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: nuclear weapons. For the next four years, Donald Trump wins again.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: That's how dangerous it is.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: The timing of this meeting is also important because it
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: takes place immediately after the states certify the elections and
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: vote on their electors, which means that Donald Trump's legal
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: recourses to contest an election, as every candidate has a
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: right to do, are now exhausted. And the only thing
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: left is illegal insurrection. And this begins the planning of
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: that 24 hours later.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Well, so then the second moment of note in the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: hearing was when we learned that the insurrectionist march to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the Capitol was planned in advance by Donald Trump himself.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Here's committee member Stephanie Murphy reading a draft tweet that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Trump saw but ultimately didn't send.
• 9:16
  Speaker 8: The committee has obtained this draft, updated, undated tweet from
• 9:22
  Speaker 8: the National Archives. It includes a stamp stating, President has seen.
• 9:27
  Speaker 8: The draft tweet reads, I will be making a big
• 9:30
  Speaker 8: speech at 10 a.m. on January 6th at the Ellipse,
• 9:33
  Speaker 8: south of the White House. Please arrive early. Massive crowds expected.
• 9:37
  Speaker 8: March to the Capitol after. Stop the steal.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: I have to say, please arrive early. Very concerned with timing,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: which is interesting. The committee also showed multiple texts from
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Stop the Steal rally organizers that said they'd heard Trump
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: would call on them to march to the Capitol. including
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: one from former Trump aide Katrina Pearson that said, quote,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: POTUS expectations are to have something intimate at the ellipse
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and call on everyone to march to the Capitol. Just
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: something intimate at the ellipse, a quiet, cozy overthrow of
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the U.S. government, right?
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Were there going to be picnic baskets, wine, brie? Is
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: this Shakespeare in the park or is it an instruction?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Sharpened flagpoles, the whole thing, the whole thing. No, I
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: think this was, look, it seemed fairly important here to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: prove that Trump had planned the march the whole time, right?
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. They have tried to play this as a
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: spontaneous demonstration, something that happened, that got out of control.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: That has been the Republican message. It's a protest to
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: get out of control. And what is very clear here
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: is that there was a plan put in place in,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: and we'll talk about this in a second, in coordination
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: with and including right-wing militant groups like the Oath Keepers
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: and the Proud Boys to try to stop the certification
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: of electoral college by force. Donald Trump was a part
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: of that. He was involved in planning it. He signaled
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: his intention to participate in it. And he wanted to
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: do all those things, even though we know from Pat
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Cipollone and Cassidy Hutchinson that he had been told on
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: multiple occasions that marching to the Capitol would bring him
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: open to criminal charges. All the crimes in the book
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: or whatever the original quote was from the Hutchinson testimony.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: And so this is once again proving that it's not spontaneous.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: It's not an accident. And Donald Trump was intimately involved
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: in it.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: And he didn't just ignore it. legal advice that what,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that doing that could be a crime. He just opposed
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that advice actively because we know Stephanie Murphy later said
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: a single scripted reference in the speech to Mike Pence
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: became eight. That was in reference to, uh, Trump wanting
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Mike Pence to overturn the election, even though he was
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: told that's illegal and that Mike Pence can't overturn the election.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: And then she said a single scripted reference to rally
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: goers marching to the Capitol became four with Trump ad-libbing
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that he'd be joining, uh, Former White House speechwriter, C-plus
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: animonica fascist Stephen Miller, we saw him testify. That was fun.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: He testified that the White House lawyers wanted the lines
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: about Pence out of the speech altogether. Miller did what
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: they said and then was ordered to reinsert the lines
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: by Donald Trump himself. Again, I've been through a lot
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: of tough editing processes on speeches. That sounds like a,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: that's a tough one. Let's say, hey. I know the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: lawyers want the crimes out of the speech. The president
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: wants the crimes back in the speech.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Also, ad libs can often be the bane of a
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: speechwriter's existence. You spend all this time working on the speech.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: President gets up there, gets a little loose, just takes
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: a number of crimes, multiplies it by eight in the speech.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I had the speech just right. And
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: then the president ad libs a violent insurrection.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, in fairness, they only included one reference
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: to the violent insurrection.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Right, yeah, I know. He really pumped that part up.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: The third important moment in the hearing was about what
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: happened as a result of the now infamous tweet that
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Trump did ultimately send. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Be there, we'll be wild. Jamie Raskin wrote a few
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: messages posted on pro-Trump extremist forums in the days that followed.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: And then the committee heard testimony from Jason Van Tattenhove,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: a former national spokesman for the Oath Keepers and Stephen Ayers.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: a Trump supporter from Ohio who is convicted of storming
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the Capitol. Here's a clip.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Some of the online rhetoric turned openly homicidal and white nationalist,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: such as, why don't we just kill them, every last Democrat,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: down to the last man, woman, and child? And it's
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: time for the day of the rope. White revolution is
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: the only solution.
• 13:44
  Speaker 9: I think we've gotten exceedingly lucky. that more bloodshed did
• 13:48
  Speaker 9: not happen because the potential has been there from the start.
• 13:52
  Speaker 9: And we got very lucky that the loss of life was,
• 13:56
  Speaker 9: and as tragic as it is, that we saw on
• 13:59
  Speaker 9: January 6th, the potential was so much more.
• 14:03
  Speaker 8: So why did you decide to march to the Capitol?
• 14:06
  Speaker 10: Well, basically, you know, the president, you know, got everybody
• 14:11
  Speaker 10: riled up, told everybody head on down. So we basically
• 14:15
  Speaker 10: were just following what he said. For me, I felt
• 14:18
  Speaker 10: like I had horse blinders on.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I was locked in the whole time.
• 14:25
  Speaker 10: Biggest thing for me is take the blinders off, make
• 14:27
  Speaker 10: sure you step back and see what's going on before
• 14:30
  Speaker 10: it's too late.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: How compelling was that testimony, do you think? Do you
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: think it added to Trump's legal jeopardy, or do you
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: think it just sort of added to the political case
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: against him?
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I think it added to the moral judgment of him,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: of Trump as someone who is responsible for what happened morally, historically.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: He told the crowd to be there. The crowd went
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: there because he said that. He told the crowd to
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: get– he riled the crowd up. They got riled up
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: because he riled them up. And then they marched to
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: the Capitol because he told them to. And what is
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: clear from this assessment I think is most important and
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: potentially most important legally is it is clear that if
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: at any point Trump had told them to stop and
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: go home, they would have done it. And if Trump
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: had been willing to do that, lives would have been spared.
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was fascinating listening to that testimony too.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: You know, Stephen Ayers was saying, I was pretty hardcore
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: into the social media. Same, same Stephen. Come on offline.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: But I do think it was indicative of the power
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and influence wielded that not only Donald Trump wields, but
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: that Republican leaders wield. that right-wing media pundits wield, right?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Like they have tremendous influence on their followers. If they
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: had simply, like you said, if they had simply told
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the truth and said that Joe Biden won, a truth
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that we know they knew from their text messages with
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: each other, whether it was Sean Hannity or Laura Ingram
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: or Donald Trump's advisors or Donald Trump himself, if they
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: had simply told that truth, there would have been no
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: violence in the Capitol. There would have been no insurrection.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and people would still be alive today. And more importantly,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: going forward, if they continue to tell these lies about Democrats,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: about democracy, there will be more violence and more people
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: will die. They have the power to prevent this kind
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: of violence in the future. And that's why, like, MAGA
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Republicans shouldn't be in office anywhere. And we should defeat
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: every last one. And it's not just about Donald Trump
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: running again and potentially winning. It's about every single one
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: of these MAGA Republicans who... went along with this, and
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: knew that Joe Biden won, and knew that there could
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: be the potential for violence, and knew that these extremist
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: groups were coming, and said nothing, even though they knew
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: the truth.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: That testimony obviously made me mad at Donald Trump, although
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not capable of more rage at Donald Trump.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I'm tapped out there.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've reached the top of the meter. But it
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: did make me so fucking angry at other Republicans and
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Fox News personalities, because if someone... anyone was willing to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: stand up and just speak the truth. Someone with some
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: credibility in that party had done that, right? And that
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I put, I include George W.
• 17:19
  Speaker 9: Bush.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I include Mitch McConnell. I include Kevin McCarthy. Anyone of
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: them that just stood up and said, Joe Biden is
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: president of the United States. He won the election. It
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: would have dramatically reduced the danger that happened on January 6th.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: But they were so busy trying to win two Georgia
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: seats they were going to fucking lose anyway that they
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: all kept their traps shut. And this is what happened.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: So yes, Donald Trump is absolutely 100% responsible for what
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: happened there. He's responsible for people being there. He's responsible
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: for people storming the Capitol. He's responsible for what happened
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: at the Capitol. But every single Republican who wanted to,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: quote unquote, humor Donald Trump for a few months is
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: absolutely just as responsible as Donald Trump, in my opinion.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: And just one more anecdote about why this threat still
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: very much exists today. Brad Parscale, who's Trump's campaign manager
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: for a time in 2020, They showed text between him
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and Katrina Pearson. And Parscale says, basically to Pearson, he says,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Trump's rhetoric killed someone. Killed someone. And she writes back,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: it wasn't the rhetoric. And he said, yes, it was, Katrina. Yes,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: it was. He is now saying, oh yeah, I'm on
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: board with Trump 2024 again. I'll be back. So there
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: was this moment in time where people like Parscale and
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: McConnell and McCarthy were all telling everyone, and Lindsey Graham,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm out. Donald Trump's a threat. The violence
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: is too much. No more. We're all done with Donald Trump.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: And now they're all back on the fucking bandwagon for 2024.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: And that's why none of them should hold power. Not
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a single fucking one of them.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Per usual, there was one last twist from Liz Cheney
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: that was such a final twist that I thought the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: hearing was already over and I actually missed it.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Me too. It's like the after the credit scenes in
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: all the Marvel movies. I always leave.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Anyway, here it is.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: And one more item. After our last hearing, President Trump
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: tried to call a witness in our investigation, a witness
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: you have not yet seen in these hearings. That person
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call and
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: instead alerted their lawyer to the call.
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: Their lawyer alerted.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: Us, and this committee has supplied that information to the
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Department of Justice.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Talk about one of the most buried leads of all time.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Liz Cheney just dropping that at the end. And one
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: more item. The former president of the United States who
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: was the subject of these hearings, we just caught him witnessing. tampering,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: by the way. By the way.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Tune in next week.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So CNN also reported Wednesday night that the person that
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Trump called was a White House support staffer who could
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: corroborate Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony and someone that Trump never usually
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: talks to. Is Trump going to get in trouble for
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: witness tampering or witness intimidation or is that just cool now?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Is Merrick just fine with that too? I'm getting steadily
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: angrier at Merrick Garland. I went from, I just remember
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: being on stage at one of our live shows talking
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to Melissa Murray about this and being like, I'm trying
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to put myself in Garland's shoes and What a big
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: decision this is. And every time I see a new
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: hearing and a new piece of evidence drops, I'm just like,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: what the fuck are you doing, man?
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: I think one thing we've really learned in the seven
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: or so years since we were in the White House
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: is that a lot of shit that we thought wasn't
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: okay turns out totally fine. Hatch Act, more of sort
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: of a blinking yellow light than a rule.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: More of a guideline.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, witness tampering. It's really in the eye of the beholder.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is pretty– we don't know who this
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: person was. The description that you pointed out suggests it's
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: not someone who was hired by Trump as a political
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: staffer in the White House. It could be a valet.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: It could be an usher. It could be someone who
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: works in the facilities of the White House. It could
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: be any one of those things. And the fact that
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Trump called them is very notable. Trump could probably pawn
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: off just checking in with Brad Parscale or someone else
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: as part of the daily course of business. But if
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: he is calling– someone who worked on the service side
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: of the White House who he doesn't normally speak to,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: that's pretty notable. And that person must know a lot
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: of stuff that Trump is pretty concerned about.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, and, you know, all the legal folks say
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: that witness tampering charges aren't, like, it's not the most
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: common charge. They're not, they're sort of hard to prove.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: But like, at the very least, testimony from this witness
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: that Trump directly called them and presumably said something thuggish
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: to them about their testimony, seems like at the very
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: least enough to open an investigation into witness tampering, considering
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: that this is an official proceeding, and one of the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: subjects of the official proceeding decided to call one of
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: the witnesses that he doesn't usually talk to, and, I
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: don't know, send a signal, and we have that along
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: with the Meadows text, to Cassidy Hutchinson that said Donald
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Trump reads all the transcripts, which is a signal. Anyway,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: before we move on to the next segment, what's your
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: latest feeling on how effective these hearings have been on
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: persuading both the ponderous judge who runs DOJ and the
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: public at large?
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: No idea on the ponderous judge. No idea.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: We can't get in his head, unfortunately.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: All we know is anonymously sourced Department of Justice stories
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: in the New York Times, which suggests that the evidence
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: that has been uncovered has been influential to them. It's
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: also alarming that it's been new to them. That's concerning.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: But so maybe it's having an effect. Maybe it's not.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: We won't know until one day smoke comes out of
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: the top of the Department of Justice and we find
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: out what happens there.
• 23:12
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: In terms of the public, I think they have done
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: a tremendous job at getting the nation's attention. Even the
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: daytime hearings are doing incredibly well in terms of viewers.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: They're getting a lot of people to tune in. The
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: nighttime hearing, the very first one, the primetime one, got
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: 20 million viewers. Some of these daytime ones have done
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: incredibly well on par with some NBA finals games. That's
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: incredibly impressive for a congressional hearing. I think the way
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: they've presented it is very good. We see there's real
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: evidence in– There's real– I think there are indications in
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: the polling that what they're doing matters. Our friends at
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Navigator did a poll where they looked at– they read
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: to the respondents a series of revelations from the hearing.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And all of– whether witness tampering, taking the metal detectors down,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: all the sort of big blockbuster things we talked about
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: on this podcast. And every single one of those had
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: more than two-thirds of Americans who were concerned by them
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: and more than 40% of Republicans. And you still have–
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: you have 2 in 10 Republicans who think that Donald
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Trump should be charged with a crime. That's kind of
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: a big deal in my opinion. We need to get
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: one particular person to think Donald Trump should be charged
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: with a crime, but we'll get to that. But the
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: other thing that I think is– remains alarming is we
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: have– no dent has been made at any point in
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: the 7 in 10 Republicans who believe Donald Trump is
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: a legitimate winner of the election. And that is a
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: threat to democracy that goes– whether Donald Trump runs or not.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: It creates a context and permission structure for a lot
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: of very, very dangerous things, from voter suppression to election
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: theft to justifying violence at the transition of power in 2025,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: if that's what happens.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I do want to bring up the New York
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Times poll on all this, since we're going to talk
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: about it in relation to Biden later in the show.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: You know, New York Times Sienna poll, A-plus poll, high-quality poll,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: came out with, they had a whole bunch of numbers
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: this week, and they talked about Trump in one of
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the stories. and January 6th, only 39% of voters think
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: he was just exercising his right to contest the election.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: 55% think his actions threatened American democracy itself. That includes
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: 56% of independents and 20% of Republicans. Obviously, you'd want
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: that number to be higher. But when then they asked,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: who would you vote for in 2024? 49% of Republicans
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: say they would vote for him in a primary in 2024.
• 25:30
  Speaker 9: 25% for DeSantis.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And then Trump trails Biden 41, 44%, even though Biden
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: has a 33% approval rating. And then when you go
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: into the numbers inside the Republican Party, 64% of Republicans
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: under 35 and 65% with a college degree would vote
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: against Trump. So you do see some, whether it's movement
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: or some significant sector of the Republican Party that does
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: not want Donald Trump again, whether or not they think
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: he was the legitimate winner in 2020 or you know,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: what's probably most urgent is making sure that he doesn't
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: get another, get the nomination again. So some possible good
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: news on that.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what worries me about that is that they want
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: someone else, not because Donald Trump tried a coup, but
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: because Donald Trump failed a coup.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Right, which I'm, exactly. So, all right. When we come back,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Dan's interview with Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. We actually
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: caught up with her three weeks ago at the steps
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: of the Supreme Court, immediately after the Dobbs decision came down.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Take a listen to that interview, and then Dan will
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: be back with his interview with her right after the break.
• 26:37
  Speaker 11: Tomorrow, our daughters will wake up with less rights than
• 26:39
  Speaker 11: our mothers had for the last 50 years. And really,
• 26:43
  Speaker 11: government officials should not be making this decision for women.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: This is a woman's.
• 26:48
  Speaker 11: Right to make this decision around her reproductive freedom, health care,
• 26:51
  Speaker 11: and rights in this country. And it really requires us
• 26:54
  Speaker 11: all to come out now and stand up and really
• 26:57
  Speaker 11: fight for those rights.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Joining us now to discuss the response to the overturning
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: of Roe v. Wade, the upcoming midterm elections, and so
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: much more is Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. Welcome to
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: the pod.
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: Dan, I am so pleased to join you. Thank you.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Earlier today, you were on the floor of the Senate
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: and you were trying to pass your Freedom to Travel Act,
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: a piece of legislation you introduced after the Dobbs decision
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: by the Supreme Court. Can you tell us about that
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: bill and what happened?
• 27:32
  Speaker 11: I will.
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: It is actually the Freedom to Travel for Healthcare Act.
• 27:36
  Speaker 11: Because of the repeal of Roe versus Wade, we want
• 27:39
  Speaker 11: to make sure we can protect women who travel to
• 27:41
  Speaker 11: my state. My state is a pro-choice state that travel
• 27:43
  Speaker 11: for their healthcare needs and see a provider. We want
• 27:48
  Speaker 11: to make sure we're protecting women, healthcare providers, and employers
• 27:51
  Speaker 11: who want to help women travel to states where they
• 27:53
  Speaker 11: can seek their reproductive services and medical care.
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: Why?
• 27:57
  Speaker 11: Because right now we're seeing across the country too many
• 28:01
  Speaker 11: state legislators that are looking to introduce legislation to actually
• 28:06
  Speaker 11: prosecute women for crossing state lines to states like mine,
• 28:09
  Speaker 11: which is a pro-choice state and proud of it. They're
• 28:12
  Speaker 11: also looking to prosecute or go after employers who want
• 28:15
  Speaker 11: to help women travel and also go after the providers.
• 28:18
  Speaker 11: But the worst part about, you know, that's bad enough, right, Dan?
• 28:21
  Speaker 11: But here's the other thing that's happened just because they're
• 28:24
  Speaker 11: even talking about passing this legislation. that's having a chilling
• 28:27
  Speaker 11: effect in my state on my healthcare providers, because they're
• 28:30
  Speaker 11: concerned that some of these states, if they pass this legislation,
• 28:34
  Speaker 11: some of these prosecutors, these crazy radical prosecutors and legislators
• 28:38
  Speaker 11: will cross state lines and start going after and prosecuting
• 28:42
  Speaker 11: my providers for doing something legally they have every right
• 28:44
  Speaker 11: to do in my state. So this legislation actually protects
• 28:48
  Speaker 11: them and gives them the right to provide those services
• 28:50
  Speaker 11: in the states like mine, where we are a pro-choice state.
• 28:53
  Speaker 11: And if anybody, tries to infringe upon that right, it
• 28:57
  Speaker 11: gives the Attorney General of the country the ability to
• 29:01
  Speaker 11: enforce the law to protect women and providers and employers
• 29:04
  Speaker 11: across the country.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: So the Republicans blocked passage of your bill this morning.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: I guess, shocking on the substance, unsurprising, I guess, on
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: the politics of these people or what they seem to
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: stand for. But where do we go from here? What
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: are the next steps to try to get this done?
• 29:21
  Speaker 11: Yeah, let me say a couple things, because it was shocking.
• 29:23
  Speaker 11: You would think For so many times, I hear my
• 29:27
  Speaker 11: Republican colleagues say they support states' rights, right? The Roe
• 29:30
  Speaker 11: versus Wade decision is about states' rights and returning it
• 29:32
  Speaker 11: to the states. But when I introduce legislation protecting states' rights,
• 29:36
  Speaker 11: like my state to provide this services, they're opposed to it.
• 29:39
  Speaker 11: So it's very convenient, obviously, for them to make these
• 29:42
  Speaker 11: arguments when it benefits them. And that's constantly what I
• 29:46
  Speaker 11: have seen. That's why we need this legislation. But more importantly,
• 29:49
  Speaker 11: that's why we all, there's so many across the country,
• 29:53
  Speaker 11: including my state, that care about this. I was just
• 29:55
  Speaker 11: in Las Vegas during the recess.
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: I was in Northern Nevada.
• 29:58
  Speaker 11: And did a press conference with some Republican women in
• 30:01
  Speaker 11: my state who are outraged by the repeal of Roe
• 30:03
  Speaker 11: versus Wade. Because you've got to remember, I'm coming from
• 30:06
  Speaker 11: a state in Nevada. In the 90s, we actually codified
• 30:09
  Speaker 11: Roe versus Wade and then put it on a referendum
• 30:12
  Speaker 11: to further protect it. And a majority of Nevadans voted
• 30:16
  Speaker 11: to support it, and they still do. So right now,
• 30:19
  Speaker 11: our goal is, listen, we've got to start electing pro-choice candidates.
• 30:23
  Speaker 11: Elections matter. I'm working to not only protect my state,
• 30:29
  Speaker 11: but my state legislature, but everybody across the country from
• 30:33
  Speaker 11: a federal abortion ban. There's no doubt in my mind,
• 30:36
  Speaker 11: I have my colleagues right now, some of my Republican
• 30:40
  Speaker 11: colleagues who are already drafting a federal abortion ban that
• 30:43
  Speaker 11: they want to pass because they think they're going to
• 30:45
  Speaker 11: be able to flip the Senate. Mitch McConnell's already said
• 30:48
  Speaker 11: he would support it. And that would come in and
• 30:50
  Speaker 11: preempt my state law. And I will tell you, I'm
• 30:52
  Speaker 11: running against somebody who believes that the Roe versus Wade
• 30:58
  Speaker 11: decision was a joke, that it was a repeal of
• 31:01
  Speaker 11: it was a historic victory for this country. And he's
• 31:05
  Speaker 11: disappointed that Nevada is a pro-choice state. So if he
• 31:07
  Speaker 11: were to win this election in Nevada, there's no doubt
• 31:10
  Speaker 11: he would be that vote to overturn, to continue to
• 31:14
  Speaker 11: overturn the rights in the state of Nevada, but.
• 31:17
  Speaker 6: Push forward a federal abortion ban.
• 31:18
  Speaker 11: So they're not stopping. So we have to be on guard.
• 31:21
  Speaker 11: We have to not only figure out who these people
• 31:25
  Speaker 11: are that are running for office and make sure we
• 31:27
  Speaker 11: don't vote them into office, and then do everything we
• 31:31
  Speaker 11: can to protect women's rights across the country when it
• 31:33
  Speaker 11: comes to reproductive freedoms.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: As you point out, your opponent has been a– as
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: you said, he called Roe v. Wade a joke. He
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: has attacked your state for being pro-choice. He has tried
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: to hide some of his previous positions and rhetoric on
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: his opposition to Roe v. Wade and abortion rights. How
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: do you run on this issue? How do you make
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: it a centerpiece of your campaign in a political environment
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: where inflation, gas prices, recession, all of that is happening?
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: How do you center or focus people's attention on what
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: the stakes are for people's personal freedom in your state?
• 32:05
  Speaker 11: Yeah, well, here's what I do know. Listen, I'm third
• 32:07
  Speaker 11: generation Nevadan, very proud of it. I do know this
• 32:10
  Speaker 11: for Nevadans and the people I talk to, the issues
• 32:14
  Speaker 11: that matter to them are those kitchen table issues, right?
• 32:17
  Speaker 11: It is food on the table, being able to get
• 32:20
  Speaker 11: a good job, access to healthcare and be able to
• 32:22
  Speaker 11: afford your healthcare. But it also is for many, the
• 32:27
  Speaker 11: opportunity to seek that healthcare, even when it comes to
• 32:30
  Speaker 11: your reproductive rights, And so it's a combination of things
• 32:35
  Speaker 11: that people care about that will pull them out.
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: It is about how.
• 32:39
  Speaker 11: They're feeling at the time and what we're working to
• 32:40
  Speaker 11: do to lower health care costs. I think we should
• 32:43
  Speaker 11: have a prescription drug negotiation. I voted to support it.
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: Already in the Senate.
• 32:46
  Speaker 11: Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell blocked it. But we still have a
• 32:50
  Speaker 11: chance to get that done. That will help us lower
• 32:52
  Speaker 11: costs for families, capping the cost of insulin.
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: Same thing.
• 32:55
  Speaker 11: We can get it done, lower costs for families, and
• 32:58
  Speaker 11: we can still fight to protect women's reproductive freedoms across
• 33:02
  Speaker 11: the country. So Dan, I just think it's a combination
• 33:05
  Speaker 11: of things that people care about that will pull them
• 33:07
  Speaker 11: out to vote. And I think that is important because
• 33:11
  Speaker 11: this day and age, this is the first time really
• 33:14
  Speaker 11: that I've seen the Supreme Court roll back a fundamental
• 33:18
  Speaker 11: right of so many people, particularly women across the country. And,
• 33:22
  Speaker 11: you know, when I saw that draft opinion come down,
• 33:25
  Speaker 11: no doubt in my mind, it would galvanize this country.
• 33:29
  Speaker 11: and so many women and men in this country. And
• 33:32
  Speaker 11: I saw it in Nevada. I was getting emails and letters.
• 33:34
  Speaker 11: And when I got home, people were talking to me
• 33:37
  Speaker 11: about it and they were outraged. So it has had
• 33:40
  Speaker 11: an impact on people recognizing what's at stake here. And
• 33:44
  Speaker 11: if we don't elect individuals who are going to stand
• 33:46
  Speaker 11: up and protect our rights, then they're going to continue
• 33:49
  Speaker 11: to be eroded. My opponent will be part of that process,
• 33:52
  Speaker 11: as you well know. Listen, he's part of the big
• 33:54
  Speaker 11: lie in the state of Nevada. My gosh, he's gone
• 33:56
  Speaker 11: around The state of Nevada claiming the election was stolen
• 33:59
  Speaker 11: from Donald Trump.
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: He chaired Trump's campaign.
• 34:03
  Speaker 11: And that couldn't be further from his truth. And it
• 34:06
  Speaker 11: was proven false by a Republican secretary of state. But
• 34:10
  Speaker 11: so they so what they did to her, they censured her. So,
• 34:13
  Speaker 11: I mean, it's just it's crazy. And there's too many
• 34:16
  Speaker 11: radicals like my opponent who are out there. And we've
• 34:18
  Speaker 11: got to stand guard. And that clues showing up in
• 34:21
  Speaker 11: election time and making sure they do not get elected.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: There have been reports that congressional Democrats, including some Senate Democrats,
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: are interested in an idea to bring forward, as you
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: just did with your bill, a series of measures that
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: would try to enshrine the freedoms that we now believe
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: are at risk from the Supreme Court, Republican legislatures around
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: the country, right to access to contraception, marriage equality, the
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: right to privacy itself. And so they would sort of
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: bring those up, hold votes on them, and see if
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: the Republicans would block them or let them go through.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Is that an idea you think has merit you'd be
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: interested in?
• 34:52
  Speaker 11: Yeah, well, there's a couple of things I do know.
• 34:54
  Speaker 11: Just being in my home state, in a state that
• 34:57
  Speaker 11: wants to make sure we continue to be able to
• 35:00
  Speaker 11: provide services to women around the reproductive freedom. And what
• 35:05
  Speaker 11: I am learning, because I talk to my doctors, some
• 35:08
  Speaker 11: of these crazy state laws and radical laws are having
• 35:10
  Speaker 11: a chilling effect on providing those services.
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: I'm also learning, and.
• 35:14
  Speaker 11: We already know it in Texas. Look, Texas passed legislation
• 35:17
  Speaker 11: that put a bounty on women, right? It basically said,
• 35:21
  Speaker 11: If your neighbor thinks that you're getting an abortion or
• 35:25
  Speaker 11: seeking that type of a service for your health care
• 35:30
  Speaker 11: and your rights, your neighbor can get $ 10, 000 for calling
• 35:33
  Speaker 11: you out. And so we have seen other states looking
• 35:37
  Speaker 11: to do similar things. Particularly, I think it's Missouri that
• 35:41
  Speaker 11: there's a legislator that wants to do the same thing
• 35:43
  Speaker 11: and give folks in that state the ability to go
• 35:47
  Speaker 11: after employers who want to help women across state lines
• 35:52
  Speaker 11: to get the essential services they need around their health care.
• 35:55
  Speaker 11: So there are things that we have to look at
• 35:57
  Speaker 11: that are happening to further protect women. One of those, though,
• 36:02
  Speaker 11: and you'll appreciate this, Dan, is data privacy. You're walking
• 36:05
  Speaker 11: around with your cell phone. It's collecting the data, your location,
• 36:09
  Speaker 11: where you are, where you go. Not only the HIPAA
• 36:12
  Speaker 11: protections that are in place, but making sure that your location,
• 36:15
  Speaker 11: when you're going to a health care provider and that
• 36:17
  Speaker 11: is being tracked by your phone, somebody in a state
• 36:21
  Speaker 11: that wants to go after you should not be able
• 36:23
  Speaker 11: to be able to access that information or prosecutors should
• 36:25
  Speaker 11: be able to access that information to be able to
• 36:28
  Speaker 11: prosecute you. So I do think that at a federal level,
• 36:32
  Speaker 11: we have to continue to be aware of that possibility
• 36:35
  Speaker 11: and fight to pass legislation to support it. To me,
• 36:38
  Speaker 11: part of this is awareness. Part of this is by
• 36:41
  Speaker 11: bringing that attention, that awareness publicly in a forum environment,
• 36:46
  Speaker 11: by forcing our colleagues to vote, we're also letting the
• 36:48
  Speaker 11: American public know what is going on and why it's
• 36:52
  Speaker 11: essential we all have to be in this fight together,
• 36:55
  Speaker 11: whether it's at the federal level or in our state
• 36:57
  Speaker 11: houses or at the local level. There is a role
• 37:00
  Speaker 11: for all of us to play, but we have to
• 37:01
  Speaker 11: understand the ramifications of what has happened with this recent
• 37:06
  Speaker 11: Supreme Court decision that has overturned Roe v.
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: Wade.
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: In the absence of federal data privacy legislation, would you
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: advise people to stop using the apps that track your
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: menstrual cycle or location or any of those sorts of
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: things to be much more cautious in this period we're in?
• 37:24
  Speaker 11: Well, I think part of it is we have to
• 37:25
  Speaker 11: understand there's a role for our state legislatures to play.
• 37:28
  Speaker 11: There's a role for our governors to play. I mean,
• 37:31
  Speaker 11: I know my governor has already issued a proclamation saying
• 37:34
  Speaker 11: he was going to protect our service providers, protect women,
• 37:36
  Speaker 11: protect employers who want to help women coming to our state.
• 37:39
  Speaker 11: And I think there is also a role for our
• 37:41
  Speaker 11: legislators like my legislature who would pass a state law
• 37:44
  Speaker 11: that would protect women's privacy. So so when I say
• 37:48
  Speaker 11: there's a we are all in this together, it's not
• 37:50
  Speaker 11: just waiting for us at a federal level to to
• 37:53
  Speaker 11: pass something or move forward. We've got to focus on
• 37:56
  Speaker 11: our state houses and our constitutional offices and our governors
• 37:59
  Speaker 11: races because there's a role that we all can play
• 38:02
  Speaker 11: to protect women across the country.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: I almost hesitate to ask this question because I feel
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: like I've been able to ask it in basically every
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: interview of a congressional Democrat for two years now. But
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: there are reports that Senator Manchin may be nearing a
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: deal on some sort of climate legislation, would include, as
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: we understand it, some climate funding, potentially negotiated decision on
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: prescription drugs, paid for in some way, shape, or form
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: by raising taxes on corporations the wealthy may be simply
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: repealing the Trump tax cuts. That has led to some
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: excitement from some folks, but also there's a story in
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Politico today about trepidation from some congressional Democrats about raising
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: taxes in election year. You're in a very close race
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: in a very closely divided state. Is that something that
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: you're worried about in your race, the possibility of raising
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: taxes on corporations to pay for climate funding and other stuff?
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: Well, a couple of things.
• 38:53
  Speaker 11: Let me just say, part of this reconciliation to me
• 38:57
  Speaker 11: is important for us to lower costs for families. And
• 39:01
  Speaker 11: particularly those families making less than 400,000 in my state,
• 39:05
  Speaker 11: I know are challenged. That's why the negotiation around healthcare
• 39:08
  Speaker 11: costs and prescription drug negotiation, capping insulin is important and
• 39:11
  Speaker 11: should be a part of this. I also think that
• 39:14
  Speaker 11: the climate provisions are essential as well as helping families. Listen,
• 39:18
  Speaker 11: in my state, we have really led with the clean
• 39:22
  Speaker 11: energy economy and we've seen the benefits of solar and
• 39:25
  Speaker 11: wind and geothermal, all of that on the jobs it
• 39:27
  Speaker 11: creates and the impact it's impact it's had in our economy,
• 39:32
  Speaker 11: let alone, listen, you wanna come to Nevada and know
• 39:35
  Speaker 11: what it's like to have a whole ecosystem around lithium
• 39:40
  Speaker 11: ion batteries from the extraction to the processing, to the
• 39:44
  Speaker 11: manufacturing of the battery, to the recycling of the.
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: Battery, come to Nevada.
• 39:48
  Speaker 11: And I'm also in a state, if you are driving
• 39:51
  Speaker 11: an electric vehicle and you happen to stop in Love Lock, Nevada,
• 39:54
  Speaker 11: where most people don't even know where it is, but
• 39:56
  Speaker 11: if you're on Interstate 80 and you stop and need
• 39:58
  Speaker 11: to charge your vehicle, we've got a charging station for you.
• 40:01
  Speaker 11: So there's benefits to moving and leaning into addressing the
• 40:06
  Speaker 11: climate crisis through a clean energy economy.
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: And we see it in Nevada.
• 40:10
  Speaker 11: So I do support that.
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: I also know this.
• 40:13
  Speaker 11: There is a way to actually ensure we're lowering costs
• 40:17
  Speaker 11: and not adding to the inflationary measures by doing the
• 40:21
  Speaker 11: pay force. And at the end of the day for me,
• 40:23
  Speaker 11: I can guarantee you a billionaire can afford to absolutely
• 40:29
  Speaker 11: be a part of our clean energy economy by paying
• 40:32
  Speaker 11: a little bit more. And to me, it's about lowering
• 40:34
  Speaker 11: those costs for families that are making $ 400, 000 or less,
• 40:38
  Speaker 11: because they are the ones that are really struggling in
• 40:41
  Speaker 11: my state that I see it. And we can balance
• 40:44
  Speaker 11: this out.
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: It is okay. By the way, for billionaires to pay.
• 40:48
  Speaker 11: Something, zero is not enough. So they should be paying
• 40:53
  Speaker 11: something to contribute to what we know long term will
• 40:56
  Speaker 11: have a positive impact on our economy, on jobs, and
• 41:00
  Speaker 11: just this country as well.
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: It will position us to be leaders.
• 41:06
  Speaker 11: Economically around the world and be able to compete with
• 41:08
  Speaker 11: these other countries as well.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: Last question for you, Senator, before I let you get
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: back to your very busy day. The New York Times
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: had a recent story about the parallels between your election
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: in 2022 and the one that the late, great Senator
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: Reid had in 2010 when he was able to win.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: And you're in a closely divided state with a terrible
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: political environment. Are there any lessons you take from that
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: lesson or from Senator Reid as you were thinking about
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: this election?
• 41:36
  Speaker 11: Yes. Nevada is a purple state. The elections are always
• 41:40
  Speaker 11: challenging and always close. So you can never take anything
• 41:42
  Speaker 11: for granted. I'm third generation. I have run for office
• 41:46
  Speaker 11: before statewide twice as attorney general. I know that at
• 41:50
  Speaker 11: the end of the day in Nevada, it is just
• 41:53
  Speaker 11: about showing up, talking to voters, asking for their vote,
• 41:56
  Speaker 11: listening to them, and making sure you're following up and
• 41:59
  Speaker 11: doing things that benefit our state.
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: So let me just say this.
• 42:02
  Speaker 11: Anybody who wants to engage and help me in this race, Please, please,
• 42:07
  Speaker 11: we welcome you, whether you want to contribute or come
• 42:10
  Speaker 11: in and knock on doors, because we have a strong,
• 42:13
  Speaker 11: coordinated campaign where we can get out the vote and
• 42:15
  Speaker 11: knock on doors. Reach out, CatherineCortezMasto.com. Please, we'll make sure
• 42:21
  Speaker 11: we put you to work. But at the end of
• 42:23
  Speaker 11: the day, you just can't take it for granted.
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: And you just got to.
• 42:25
  Speaker 11: Show up and talk to people about the importance of
• 42:28
  Speaker 11: what's at stake and listen to them and hear what
• 42:32
  Speaker 11: matters to them most.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: This is such an important race. We need to keep
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: people like you in the Senate. And if you want
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: to help, you can donate to our Senate funded votesaveamerica.com
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: slash Senate. Senator, thank you so much for your time.
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: Dan, thank you. It's great to talk with you.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, before we go, we would be remiss. if we
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: did not acknowledge a debate that has set the internet
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: and cable ablaze over the last few weeks. And that
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: is the debate about whether Joe Biden should run for
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: a second term in 2024. There have been endless stories
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: about this over the last few weeks, but I wasn't
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: going to bring it up until two things happened. One,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: the high quality and very popular New York Times-Siena College
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: poll found that only 26% of Democratic voters believe that
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Biden should run again, a poll where he also has
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: a 33% approval rating among all voters. And two, perhaps
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: more importantly, this topic was the subject of Wednesday morning's
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: message box by Dan Pfeiffer. So here we are. Dan,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: why are you so intent on talking about Joe Biden's
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: reelection chances?
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: Well, two reasons, John. One, I've become what I hate.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: That's one. Look, those subscribe buttons are not going to
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: smash themselves. I'll tell you that. Second reason is I
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: am very concerned that as a Democratic Party, we have
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: reached the clean your dorm room the night before the
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: exam period of political reckoning. What are we doing? We
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: have a midterm where there's an authoritarian party led by
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: a fucking lunatic trying to grab the reins of power
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: in this country. And we're like, what's going to happen
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: two years from now? Makes no sense. The point of
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: my message box is to tell people, There is a
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: time and place to worry about whether Joe Biden can, should,
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: will run for president. That time is not now.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: And look, I get the interest in this. You and
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: I were talking about this, like how many people in
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: our lives over the last several weeks, months, have, when
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: we talk about politics, say, is Joe Biden going to
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: run again? Is Joe Biden going to run? It is
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: a topic of conversation, partly fueled by the media, partly
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: fueled by The fact that, you know, he is not
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: doing well in the polls right now and he is
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: quite old. So it is a question on a lot
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: of people's minds. But your point remains that before we
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: get to 2024, which we will have plenty of time
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: to talk about so long, we will talk about it
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: so much. You're going to be so sick of it, everyone.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: That's how much time we have to talk about 2024.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: But in the next several months, we do have a
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: midterm election. Of course, Joe Biden himself has not been
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: able to escape this question. After the New York Times
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: poll came out, some reporter shouted a question at him
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: about it. Here's what he said.
• 45:31
  Speaker 11: Mr.
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: President, what's your message to Democrats who don't want you
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: to run again?
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: They want me to run.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: Two-thirds say they don't.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Read the poll.
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: Read the poll, Jack.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: You guys are all the same.
• 45:42
  Speaker 10: That poll showed that 92% of Democrats if I ran
• 45:45
  Speaker 10: would vote for me.
• 45:46
  Speaker 11: A majority of Democrats say they don't want you to
• 45:48
  Speaker 11: run again in 2024.
• 45:49
  Speaker 10: 92% said if I did, they'd vote for me.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Read the polls, Jack. I don't think his name is Jack,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: do you?
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, what are the odds his
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: name is Jack?
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: Very low. Very low. I felt for Joe Biden in
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: that moment because what if... Mr. President, Mr. President, what
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: do you say to the poll? What do you say
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: to the numbers in the poll, Mr. President? Now, Joe
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Biden was... You might be wondering to yourself, okay, Joe
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: Biden said 92% of Democrats would vote for me. How
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: is that true? And also true that only 26% of
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Democratic voters believe that Joe Biden should run again. In fact,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: both are true.
• 46:25
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Because what they did is then they said, okay, only
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: 26% of Democratic voters want Joe Biden to run again.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: But if Joe Biden does run again, and if he
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: does face Donald Trump again, what will happen? Well, and
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: we mentioned this earlier in the show, Joe Biden wins
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: that matchup in this poll, 44 to 41 percent, and
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: he gets 92 percent of Democrats, which sort of sums
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: up both where we are right now and why it's
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: so difficult to actually and perhaps pointless to really dive
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: into this debate. What do you think?
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's the difference between would you order something
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: and would you eat it if it was served to you?
• 47:02
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: Like that's I mean, that's what that means.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: Yikes. I mean, let's.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: The whole thing is so stupid. Like I hate that
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: we're now– like we have gone from saying don't worry
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: about this to now we're talking about it.
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, we're going to talk about it and then
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: that's it. That's why it's a C block here. We're
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: going to– it's been talked about. We're going to put
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: a pin in it and then that's it. That's it.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Maybe John and Tommy will have something to say about
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: it in a future pod and then we're done.
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: I mean can we just do like the contours of
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: the debate?
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do the contours of the debate.
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: All right. Or do you want to do the timing first?
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. That's a good way to start. This is
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: all just process. We've both been part of a presidential
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: re-election campaign. Help people understand the normal timing and process
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: around deciding and announcing that you're running for re-election if
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: you are an incumbent president.
• 47:55
  Speaker 11: Okay.
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States,
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: he filed his re-election papers four or so hours after
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: he took the oath of office in 2021.
• 48:04
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: That is unusual.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: Pretty early, pretty early.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is unusual. That was largely a way to
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: basically create a shell corporation for political grift and hush money.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: So he had that at his disposal. That's not really
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: how Joe Biden and most presidents roll. So President Obama
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: announced his re-election in April of 2011. So about a
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: year and a half before the election. There are reports
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: that Joe Biden, who I would note, has said he
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: is running. He has reiterated he is running. His staff
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: is actively preparing for said campaign. So that's a very
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: important piece of context for this theoretical debate. He has
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: said that he was planning on using a timeline similar
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: to the one that the Obama-Biden campaign did for the
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: 2012 campaign, which means if we want to have this debate,
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: we can have this debate from the day after the
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: election in November 2022 until sometime in the spring of 2023.
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: That'll give us plenty of time for the tweets. And
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: the takes. And what officially announcing means is that he
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: would file a statement of candidacy. He would open a
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: campaign office. He would begin raising money. He would have
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: staff working for him. That would all happen in April
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: or around that time if the reports of his timing
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: are correct.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: Okay. So to talk about the debate, I mean, I
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: do think whether you're someone who believes Joe Biden should
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: run again or believes that he shouldn't, Joe Biden making
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: an announcement, like, of course, Joe Biden is saying he's
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: going to run again now because Even if Joe Biden
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: is not going to run again in 2024, saying that
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: now would certainly not help Democrats in the midterm election,
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: would it?
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: Well, you know what also doesn't help them? This debate.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what I'm saying. I mean, like anything that, look,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: we are fighting MAGA Republicans who want to destroy democracy.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: We are also fighting in the attention economy, right? And
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: we are trying to get everyone's attention. on this midterm election.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: And so every cycle, every story, every debate that's about
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: this takes a little bit more attention away from that,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: which I think is, and look, is Joe Biden's political
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: standing important? Yeah, it's very fucking important. It's going to
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: be important for this midterm. But how that standing relates
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: to what happens in 2024, it's probably too early to
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: talk about that. And we should point out in that
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: vein that the same New York Times poll after the
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: Biden story and after the Trump story, then ran a
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: story about the same poll that showed the midterm horse race.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: And it has Democrats up 41-40. I think when it
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: did a likely voter model, it had Republicans up one point,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: but that's still much closer than one would assume in
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: a midterm for the party in power to be one
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: point ahead, particularly when the president of that party that's
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: in power has a 33% approval rating, which, let's be honest,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: is fucking terrible. And terrible by, like, comparison to Donald Trump.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: Barack Obama never had those numbers. Bill Clinton never had
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: those numbers. It's a very, very bad approval rating. And yet,
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: with a 33% approval rating, Democrats in the midterm ballot
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: are 41, and up one on the Republicans. What do
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: you think's happening there?
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: Well, there are a couple things happening there. One is
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: that in an era... of high polarization and negative partisanship,
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: where people are largely voting against the other party as
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: much as they're voting for their own party, there is,
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: I think, a disconnect that did not exist as much
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: before between a president's approval rating and vote choice. You're
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: going to have a larger number of people who disapprove
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: of a president who will vote for that president or
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: vote for their party. And so that's where you see
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: that delta between Biden's numbers and the Democratic numbers Biden's
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: approval rating and Biden's vote share against Trump. Now, I
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: just want to stipulate, you do not want to go
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: into a midterm where the president had a 33% approval rating.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: You do not want to go into a general election
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: where one of your candidates has a 33% approval rating.
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: But two things can be true at the same time.
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: Biden's approval ratings can be historically depressed and his party
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: can outperform him because of polarization and negative partisanship.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. There's clearly a lot of not only Democratic voters,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: but independent voters as well, who think that Biden's doing
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: a bad job, but very clearly see the dangers of
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: a Republican Congress and more MAGA Republican governors and attorneys
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: general and secretaries of state. That's what's going on here.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: And they're right about the dangers, right? And look, the
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: House is going to be very hard to hold in
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: this political environment. The Senate is very possible to hold.
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: And if we do, if we hold the Senate, we
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: can keep appointing judges. And we've just seen how important
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: it is to appoint judges, for Democrats to appoint judges.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: The reason that Dobbs happened, the reason the court was
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: able to overturn Roe v. Wade is because Democrats lost
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the Senate in the 2014 midterms because not enough people
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: turned out when Barack Obama's approval rating wasn't great. It's
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: because we lost the 2016 election, the presidency, and it's
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: because we didn't take back the Senate in 2018, even
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: though we did pretty well in the House. That's it.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: That's the reason that All these stories about like Republicans
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: were crafty and poured all this money in and did
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: all this all these years. No, no, it was three elections, 14, 16,
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: and 18. 14 is why Obama couldn't get Garland through.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: 16 is why Trump got Gorsuch and Kavanaugh through. And
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: 2018 is why Barrett got through. That's it. Those are
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: the three judges that overturned Roe v. Wade. So that's
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: why elections matter. And especially a fucking midterm election. And
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: if we hold the Senate, Joe Biden and the Democratic
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: Senate will have the power to keep appointing judges and
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: holding the Senate is making sure that Catherine Cortez Masto
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: wins again, that Maggie Hassan wins again, that Mark Kelly
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: wins again, that Raphael Warnock wins again. And by the way,
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: if one of them don't, make sure that John Fetterman
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: can flip Pennsylvania and the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin can
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: flip that state and take it from Ron Johnson. And
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: then we have a Democratic Senate. Also, governor's races, right?
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: The difference between Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro or Republican Governor
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania is is the difference between a
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: state where millions of women will have access to abortion
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: and a state where abortion is criminalized. The same is
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: true as Michigan. The same is true in Arizona. It's
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: the difference between waking up in states all across the
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: country where you have people running the states who will
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: help Donald Trump pull off his next coup or people
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: who will stop that coup from happening. These are very
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: real stakes in the midterm election that are coming up.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: And then if we want to have a debate about
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: whether Joe Biden should be our nominee... We'll do that.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: He'll have to make his case.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: I promise you we'll have it. I promise you we'll
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: have it.
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: Look, you're going to be so fucking sick of that debate.
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: Just circle December to April on your calendar for a
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: bunch of annoying shit. What is going to happen?
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: Because I'm sure the White House has circled those dates
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: as well. Tough times. But like I said, it is unusual.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: I have been surprised by the polling around the midterms
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: because I do think it is unusual in a midterm–
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: year with the president's approval this low, with the wrong
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: track number in the country this high, with everything that's
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: going on economically, inflation, everything else, for the Democrats to
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: still be in the game. But I think people have
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: seen the dangers of the radicalization of the Supreme Court,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: the radicalization of the Republican Party. And so even though
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: people aren't happy with what's going on in the country
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: right now with leadership, they see very clearly that especially
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: in this poll and other polls, the threats from the
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: Republican Party, which puts us in the game.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: This is very, look, as you said, we have to
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: be honest about the headwinds we are facing, about how
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: the history plays here. But as we have said on
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: previous pods, ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: the generic ballot, the question of who do you want
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: to control Congress, Democrats, Republicans, has moved in the Democrats' favor.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: While we got a terrible inflation number yesterday, Mm-hmm. That's
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: a backward-looking measure, and gas prices have gone down for
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: nearly a month consecutive. There is a world in which
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: we can upend history and the headwinds and hold the Senate,
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: do better in the House than people think, win these governorships.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: That can happen, but it's not going to happen if
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: we are debating what's going to happen two years from
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: now instead of focusing on what we can do if
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: our election is happening four months from now.
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: And again, we all have the power to control this.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: We all have the power to make a difference in
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: this election. You go to votesaveamerica.com. sign up for Midterm Madness.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: We'll get you volunteering opportunities to donate, to volunteer, to
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: talk to voters. Look, go talk to, there's a whole
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: bunch of undecided voters in this poll too, which means
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: there's a whole bunch of undecided voters in the country.
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: And you talk to those voters and they're going to
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: be pissed about inflation. You say, you know what? Maybe
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: you're pissed about inflation. You think Republicans are going to
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: fix inflation if they get to Congress? Or do you
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: think they're going to spend the entire time investigating Joe
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: Biden and trying to criminalize abortion in all the places
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: where it's still legal? Because it seems like that's what
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: they want to do. They're not going to fix your problems.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: They're not going to fix inflation. They're not going to
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: make your cost of living go down. They're going to
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: do all of their extremist, crazy shit that they've been
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: doing for the last two years. Only now they're going
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: to have more power in Congress. Do you want that
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: to happen? Make that case to voters.
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: If you feel like large trillion dollar tech corporations should
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: pay zero in taxes and the government's not intimately involved
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: in your personal affairs enough, vote Republican.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Exactly. Exactly.
• 57:42
  Speaker 11: Anyway.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Okay. So that's our comment on that, on the 2024.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: Talk to you guys in late November. Talk to you
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: guys in late November. Thank you to Catherine Cortez Masto
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: for joining the show today. Please go help her in
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: her Senate race. It's very important that we win Nevada.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: And everyone have a great weekend. We will talk to
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: you all next week. Bye, everyone. Pod Save America is
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: a Crooked Media production. The executive producer is Michael Martinez.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: Our senior producer is Andy Gardner Bernstein. Our producer is
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: Haley Muse, and Olivia Martinez is our associate producer. It's
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: mixed and edited by Andrew Chadwick. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: Landis sound engineer the show. Thanks to Tanya Sominator, Sandy Gerard,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: Hallie Kiefer, Ari Schwartz, Andy Taft, and Justine Howe for
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: production support. And to our digital team, Elijah Cohn, Phoebe Bradford,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: Milo Kim, and Amelia Montooth. Our episodes are uploaded as
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: videos at youtube.com slash crookedmedia.